CMe Media Blog

I thrive on a good catch-up session with the team and talking about the latest news in the media world. During our discussion on the list of late space offers with our out-of-home suppliers for June, our agenda took a different turn and as a team we ended up discussing the impact and power of out-of-home advertising.

As a mum who has children and someone who understands the issues about healthy eating and raising our children in a healthy world, I still struggle to understand why it’s the same price or cheaper to buy a large sharing bag of fizzy sweets or caramel layered chocolate pieces, rather than a single small 30g bar of chocolate. Handing a huge bag to a child and expecting them to stop after just a few is very difficult.

I recently heard a very impactful radio campaign which was for Cancer Research, I believe. It had a question, ‘What is the second biggest cause of Cancer in the UK’? Cigarettes is the UK’s number one biggest killer, closely followed by obesity. I was surprised by this, especially since the number of large sweet bags increases and the range of fast food drive thru’s are also growing.

It’s no surprise that the UK’s obesity levels have tripled over the last 30 years in the UK, with the level of advertising placements that entice us in with their delicious and tasty looking images on so many billboards, bus stops and train stations at all times of the day. You are guaranteed at some stage when you feel hungry to be lured into a swayed decision.

As an advertising agency mapping hundreds of billboards and out-of-home options for clients on a weekly basis, we understand the power and cost effectiveness of some of out-of-home locations.

It seems the Mayor of London is with us on this with his proposal last week. If you missed it, Sadiq Khan the London City Mayor is targeting goods high in salt, fat and sugar to address the ‘timebomb’ of child obesity. If the proposal is approved, fast food adverts are to be banned from London’s tube and bus network to control a prevalent of childhood obesity.

Sadiq Khan clearly understands the power of out-of-home advertising! The food giants have invested in London alone in 2016/17 £20million in advertising and the TFL network accounts for £13million of this spend.

Whilst there could be a nice bit of availability in the City when and if this comes into play, it will demonstrate the power of this media vehicle to other brands, products and businesses.

Personally, I agree with his decision, especially after hearing his strong statement claiming, ‘obesity is a ticking timebomb’.

Success and post campaign analysis are so important to a client and any advertising agency. Hearing the success of sales of these fatty, high sugar, salty foods and then hearing that the country is getting fatter, obese and unhealthier begs the question. Would these campaigns be deemed successful?

Our conclusion as a team, is that salads will take over the TFL network and we’ll need to grow more lettuces then we’ve ever needed before in this country! But, that won’t be a bad thing hey? Of course, if superfoods are more your thing the why not head over to Grape Tree where their range of superfoods that will really get your body kick started!